Roads on an Island of Rail
by Exceptionally Crazy
Summary: A new road bridge has been built from Sodor to the Mainland, and with it, a new outlet for companies to use the Roads of Sodor. But, are these new innovations all that their cracked up to be?
1. Road Raiders

It was a cold, windy, late September morning on the Island of Sodor. The sky was darkened by a few clouds, and the rails were covered with orange and red leaves that had been blown off the trees by the line. That day, Emily had been tasked with taking the mid-morning local along the mainline to Barrow. As she was pulling into Wellsworth, she heard a loud BANG, preceded by what she could only assume to be Edward's "angry" voice.

"Now you two, what have I told you in the past about handling trains in this yard?"

"To watch out for the turntable…" Bill said apologetically.

As Emily stopped at the platform, she could see that the twins had managed to push some trucks into the turntable well in the yard, with China Clay dust covering the surrounding area.

"This is exactly why you aren't usually allowed beyond the dockyard," Edward said sternly.

"But you and Boco were busy, the train could have moved itself," Ben said quietly.

"And what about Derek? And don't say he's broken down again, we had that problem fixed years ago."

"Um, sorry to interrupt your lecture Edward, but am I right in saying you have to take these passengers down ye branchline now?" Emily said, looking over to the passengers on the platform where Edward's train should be.

"Oh god, sorry Emily. I got a bit… distracted," he said, glaring back at the twins. "You two go get the breakdown train, we'll finish our discussion later…"

"Wow Edward, I cannet say I've seen that side of ye before."

"Yes, well. I'm not fond of being that brash, but sometimes it's the only way to get Bill and Ben to listen. But with the way they handle trains, they might as well turn over all of the goods to the lorries."

"I wouldn't hold ye breath on that one, the Sodor Transport Ministry had approved the construction of a road bridge from Vicarstown to the Mainland."

"Well, I'm sure it won't have too much of an effect on us. Our rails reach most of the island, and most of the roads between towns are either deteriorating or just a dirt path."

"I sure hope yer right on that one, Edward…" Emily said, as she chuffed away from the station.

Unfortunately, that would not be the case. A few weeks later, the road bridge from Sodor to the Mainland had been completed, and with it, a new way for businesses to move their goods around. With this new roadway connection, Sodor Road Freight, one of the few road-based goods services on the island, had been getting a large boom in business. Most of the engines and railway staff brushed it off as nothing more than a small competitor, while others were genuinely concerned over whether or not they would lose their work.

One day, as Toby went up the tramroad to Ffarquhar Quarry, he saw two large lorries loaded with stone going back down the hill. When he reached the quarry, he noticed that lines of trucks had not been loaded. "Oh dear," Toby said,"surely those lorries couldn't have taken that much stone on their own." "I'm afraid they have," Mavis said, pulling up alongside him, "And there's another one being loaded now. But at least most of work is still for us."

"I suppose your right," muttered Toby, "well, for now at least."

The same story could have been told from most other parts of the island. Lorries taking industrial goods, crops for market, and, as would discovered next morning, fish.

In the early hours of the next morning, Henry made his run to the fishing harbour of Tidmouth. He had made this run hundreds of times, but today's train was noticeably shorter.

"Philip, is the Kipper ready yet? It seems as though you left some vans out of it."

"That's because I did," He responded in a voice less energetic than usual, "Those lorries over there are being used by some of the fishermen." He said, glancing over to nearby cargo platform. "Oh, really?" said Henry angrily, "Then I should give him a piece of my mind!" He then puffed over to the platform, backing down next to the lorries. "Mornin' to ya, Lads. A fine one, isn't it?" Henry said sarcastically.

One of the lorries spoke up, "Yeah, but it would be alot betta without a big green teapot blowing smoke, but I guess you won't be 'round much longa, ain't that right mate?"

"Yeah," replied the other lorry, "This fish is all for us now."

"Oh, I doubt that. You're not the first road-raiders who tried to take on our railway, and just like those before you, you probably won't last long." "We'll see about that," said one of the lorries, as they both drove off to deliver the fish.

About an hour later, as Henry was having fish transferred onto Peter Sam's train, he was discussing the new road services with the little engine.

"I know what you mean," said Peter Sam, "The lorries have started getting up to Blue Mountain Quarry, but the roads are so old, only one of them can get up at a time."

"Well, at least it's not a full takeover. But I sure do hope this does come to pass-"

Their conversation was cut short when the station master came onto the platform.

"Sorry Henry, you won't be moving for a little while. A stupid lorry crashed into a telephone pole, and it fell onto the line. All traffic is halted until Geoff and Harvey bring the breakdown train."

"Heh, at least Karma still works."

The accident that morning had been determined to be caused by ice on the road. And that lorry was most certainly not the last one to get their comeuppance. The lorries coming down from the Ffarquhar Quarry had hit a loose part of the road, causing their tires to puncture. All the engines found it very amusing how the very roads that the lorries had claimed was superior had been what caused them the most trouble of all. Sodor Road Freight never went out of business, but they made sure to keep away from the railways.


	2. Mail Mayhem

(sorry it took so long to get this last chapter out)

It had now been a few months since the lorries of Sodor Road Freight had been in those nasty accidents of theirs. By now, all the engines and railway staff had put the thought of lorries taking their work behind them, as they had long since welcomed in the new year. However, the early months of 1974 had been a difficult time on it's own. The Island of Sodor had seen some heavy rains over the course of February, and thus had to be extra cautious.

But, beyond the reach of the rails, in the towns and cities, the Sodor Postal Service had acquired a fleet of sturdy mail vans for the Holiday season, and had kept them in service for daily use.

One early morning, as Percy was taking his mail train along the Ffarquhar Branch Line, he couldn't help but notice that at almost every station they stopped at, their mail was loaded into the road vehicles. When he finally arrived at Ffarquhar Station, he asked stationmaster about what had been going on with the vans.

"Excuse me stationmaster, but why have there been so many mail vans? I've seen more here along our branch line than ever before." Percy said, worryingly.

"Ah, tis nothing to worry about Percy. These vans are used to make it easier to deliver the post into towns and the countryside, and anywhere else where your rails can't reach." said the stationmaster in a reassuring tone. But Percy wasn't too sure about that.

When he returned to the sheds later that morning, he told Thomas and Toby as they were being steamed up about what he had seen earlier.

"Im telling you, Thomas. Those road vehicles tried to take away our goods work, and now they are after my post trains!"

"Don't be silly Percy," said Thomas, "If they take the mail to where our rails can't reach, then it's not even a competitor."

"Yes indeed Thomas," Toby said, "And besides, the Fat Controller makes sure we have the contract for mail trains on the mainline."

"Yeah, the mainline, but what about our Branch?" exclaimed Percy.

Toby chuckled, "It's not like it would be the end of the world, Percy. We still have plenty of work to do, and you would be able to sleep in like us."

Percy wanted to say more, but he knew that it wouldn't change anything. And so, he set off to do his work for the day. But try as might, he couldn't shake a bad feeling he had.

Early the next morning, Percy was steamed up, and started his journey to the postan depot at Vicarstown, where the mail comes in from the Mainland. As he reached the yards, he saw Oliver and Boco there too. "Morning, all," Percy said tiredly, as he hadn't quite woken up just yet. "Ah, good mornin' Percy," Oliver said "beautiful morning isn't it?"

"If by that you mean it's not raining for once, then yeah," Boco chuckled. "How are ya this morning anyways?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," said Percy, "I assume you have seen the mail vans on your branchlines as well?"

"Yeah, but only two or three, nothing major," said Boco. "I'm just glad im not late, I had a bit of trouble getting started this morning." "You and me both," mumbled Percy.

Just then, a horn could be heard in the distance, along with a distinct growling of a certain engine, and the rumbling of wheels on the rails. And, a few moments later, Bear came from around the bend, bring with him the mail from the Mainland. "Hello all," he said as he pulled to a stop at the loading dock. "Alright, whos is who's then?" asked Oliver.

"First three vans for you, the next four are for Boco, and the next one is for Percy. Rest are for my mainline run."

"Uh, only one van for me? Are you sure?" Percy said worriedly. He knew the road vans would have an impact, but not like this.

"Yes, that's right." Said the Postal Inspector as he made sure that everything was in order with the train. "I'm sorry Percy, but the head postal office in Suddery has said its more efficient to run mail vans along the Branch Line routes."

"I understand sir," Percy said sadly, as he puffed back to the branchline. And sure enough, now every station he stopped at had a van waiting to take the post on by road. And, over the next week, the same happened to the other branchlines, being reduced to one van per branchline.

The same couldn't be said be said for the Mainline, as Sir Topham Hat managed to keep that contract. But it seemed that most people liked this quicker way of getting their mail in the mornings.

But, as Sudrian luck would have it, there was a major incident with a mail van one morning. The postman driving was one of the younger postal workers, and was not experienced with driving in the darkened mornings. They were driving along a coastal road on Arthur's branch line, and some water that had splashed up onto the road had frozen solid. Arthur was waiting at the station, doing some early morning track inspection, when all of a sudden, the mail van came speeding around the corner, slipping on ice! The postman jumped clear just before the van crashed into the station, causing Arthur to whistle in panic! Luckily, no one was hurt. But the crash had caused to mail to fly everywhere, and some had even been blown away and fallen into the sea. Butch had arrived to clear away the mess. "You alright there Arthur?" the old lorry asked. "Yeah, just a bit shaken up. A couple feet to the left and he'd have crashed into me."

And with that, Butch took away the mail van to the scrapyard, as it would cost too much to repair.

Word of the accident spread quickly across the island, and it gave all the engines something to talk about. Especially whenever they passed Arthur at his branch line terminus at the mainline.

"Wow, I can't believe you almost had an accident." James said on his stopping passenger service. "Such recklessness can only be expected from those road vehicles."

"I'm especially glad I didn't get hit. If i'd of had an accident on a maintenance train, I doubt I'd ever hear the end of it…"

Over the next few days, things on the NWR seemingly went back to normal. No more major accidents, or significant delays. And to Sir Topham Hatt, this scared him something dreadful, as given present circumstances, one disaster usually leads to another. I'm sorry to say, it would be Hatt's instincts that would end up being right.

In the evening hours on Sodor, the outgoing mail is taken from Sodor to the Mainland. It was on one particular evening that the accident would happen. As a postal worker was carting packages from his van to the train waiting at the platform, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him, and as he turned around he saw some men dressed in dark clothing taking parcels from his van, "Hey, you!" he shouted at them, but it was too late, as the men made off with about half a dozen packages.

This was the last straw for the Sudrian masses, as these sorts of events (nearly) never happened when it was the railway that carried out the mail services. And so, very reluctantly, signed a mail contract with the NWR, allowing for there to be regular branchline mail trains.

Percy was delighted to hear that his post train would be coming back, but he had noticed that it was usually only 2 vans now.

And all the engines had finally realized how the roads would never take away their work again.

The End


End file.
